Leaders are ‘thrilled’ about return of Tour

Thousands of people lined the streets in Market Weighton for this year's Tour de Yorkshire.

Published:14:00Sunday 20 December 2015

Share this article

Community leaders in Market Weighton have welcomed the news that the Tour de Yorkshire will be returning to the town next year.

Huge crowds are expected to line the streets in the town once again on 29 April, which is the first stage of the three-day race.

Thousands of people lined the streets in Market Weighton for this year's Tour de Yorkshire.

Mayor of Market Weighton, Councillor Peter Hemmerman, said: “We are all very pleased it is coming to the town again. It attracts lots of people to the town, which definitely helps the local economy. It will be great for local businesses.

“I can understand people in Pocklington being disappointed because it has missed out again.

“I don’t think it is anything against the other towns. It’s just that we seem to be on all the main roads, it’s a crossroads for the area. It is the heart of East Yorkshire.”

Market Weighton Town Team member and newsagent Lionel Cashin, who runs The Paper Shop, on Market Place, said: “I am absolutely thrilled. It is a total endorsement of the reception the cyclists got here. I am sure they will get an even bigger reception this time.

“I thought it would take years for it to come back to Market Weighton, it’s such a big event.”

Stage one, which is about 114 miles, begins in Beverley before the peloton races to Holme on the Wolds and then Market Weighton along Londesborough Road, Market Place and Holme Road, and then on westwards through Holme-on-Spalding Moor and Foggathorpe to a sprint point at Bubwith. From there, the peloton will race to Tadcaster and on to Knaresborough. Taking in some of the Grand Depart 2014 route, a series of climbs takes the riders past Brimham Rocks before a finish in Settle.

On stage two, which is about 84 miles, men and women will face exactly the same stage which starts in Otley. From Otley riders travel south, on roads not raced on in the Tour de France nor Tour de Yorkshire, towards Conisbrough Castle and on to Doncaster.

Stage three will be familiar to those who raced in 2015, starting in Middlesbrough, then into Herriot Country before tackling the infamous Sutton Bank, the first of six King of the Mountain points in just one stage. Riders then head over the North York Moors and down towards Scarborough for what promises to be a thrilling finale and a race to the very end. Stage three is about 122 miles.